Rubber boot and shoe.



No. 873,551. PATENTED DEC. 10, 1907.

T. B. HURLEY. RUBBER BOOT AND SHOE.

APPLICATION FILED APRJB. 1907.

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TIMOTHY E. HURLEY, OF BEVERLY, MASSACHUSETTS.

RUBBER BOOT AND sHoE'.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 10, 1907.

Application filed April 18. 1907. Serial No. 368.858.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, TIMOTHY E. HURLEY, a citizen of the United States, residing in Beverly, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rubber Boots and Shoes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to rubber boots and shoes, by which term I mean to include boots and over-shoes made wholly or principally of rubber, including arctics and overshoes in which the soles are made of rubber and the upper portion of cloth, and the invention relates particularly to rubber boots and shoes in which there is located over the rubber heel and inside, or practically inside,

. the shoe a lift made of leather, leather board or equivalent material, said lift being pro vided with a guard or flange having for its principal object to prevent the rubber overshoe from wearing or breaking away at the point or points thus strengthened or guarded, and thus to obviate any necessity for thickening the rubber over-shoe at the said points.

My present invention has for its object to strengthen the shoe and enhance its wearing quality not only at the heel portion or quarter, but at the instep portion of the upper, said portion being very liable to break away, especially, but not exclusively, in ladies over-shoes, and thus to bring up the wearing quality of the shoe at the points thus protected or strengthened to a par with that of the rest of the shoe without practically affecting its pliability or lightness.

The nature of the invention is fully described in detail below, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a rubber over-shoe embodying my invention, the

heel and instep portions being illustrated in longitudinal vertical section. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the improved flanged leather lift removed from the shoe.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

a represents the rubber heel, and b the quarter or heel portion of a rubber shoe.

c is the instep or shank.

d is a lift made of leather or equivalen material applied to the interior of the shoe directly over the heel a. This lift is formed up by a mold into the shape illustrated, in.

which it consists of the fiat main portion (Z provided with a number of small substantially circular perforations e, a larger triangularhole f, with the apex of the triangle facing the rear, and ,a recess 9 whose rear edge h is on a line which extends transversely with the shoe and whose side edges is extend at acute angles with the edge 72 toward the front edge of the main portion d, thus producing the contracted opening Z. The outer edge of the flat portion d has in tegral with it a vertical flange n, which is Y forwardly projecting instep-guards p whose v lower edges follow the curved convex line of the instep on opposite sides of the shoe to or beyond the highest point of said instep, and whose upper edges are also convex and curved and approach the lower edges whereby these stays or instep-guards taper until they come to a point at their forward ends.

The main or heel portion (1 is next to the upper surface of the rubber heel a, and the device is preferably applied to the shoe during the process of vulcanization, and during said process the soft rubber is pressed up into the holes 6, the triangular opening f, and the recess 9, thus uniting the leather main portion' d with the rubber heel a, and the flange n with its forward extensions 1) is preferably cemented or pressed to the portions of the upper next to which it lies, that is to say, the portion a is cemented to the quarter of the rubber shoe, and the portion 19 is cemented to the opposite sides of the instep portion of the upper. The opening f has its 0 posite sides at opposite angles to the sides I? and the recess g, and thus these two openings not only operate as keys to lock the leather lift to the rubber heel, but oppose each other and aid in preventing horizontal separation of said leather lift from the rubber heel. The openings e, which are illustrated as being circular but which may be of any desired shape, provide additional means of locking the leather and rubber parts together. Moreover, the fact that so much of the stock of the leather lift (1 is removed to provide these openings operates to increase its pliability.

In ladies shoes it is found that owing to easily give way, these two points being the weak spots in rubber shoes and especially in rubber shoes of the style constructed for ladies wear. This invention, therefore, has for its main object to brin those portions of the shoe up to a par with the rest of the shoe as regards strength, and. this object is attained by means of the stays or forward extensions 19 above described.

Having thus fully described my invention; what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is v 1. In a rubber over-shoe, a guard or lift of fibrous material comprising a horizontal flat portion located over the rubber heel, a flange extending up from the edges of said flat portion, and instep-guards or stays extending forward from said flange along and secured to the portions of the upper directly over the instep, for the purpose set forth.

2. In a rubber o'ver-shoe, a guard or lift of to the portions of the upper directly over the instep and conforming to the curvature of said instep, for the purpose set forth.

3. In a rubber over-shoe, a uard or lift of fibrous material comprising a orizontal fiat portion located over the rubber heel, a flange extending up from the edges of said flat portion, and instep-guards or stays extending forward from said flange along and secured to the portions of the upper directly over the instep conforming to the curvature of saidinstep and tapering toward their outer ends, for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

TIMOTHY E. rrUnLEY.

Witnesses:

HENRY W. WILLIAM-s, M. A. ATwooD. 

